Tsdayout Selangor Meets Sarawak : Royal Klang Town Heritage Walk

From trailing the Royal Klang Town Heritage Walk to enjoying a cup of coffee at an old kopitiam to salvaging seafood in Kuching to seeing orang utan in the wild to kayaking in the Borneon river, I was honoured to have been selected by Tourism Selangor to participate in their Tsdayout Special Edition: Selangor Meets Sarawak.

What is tsdayout?

Acronym to Tourism Selangor day out, tsdayout is an awareness campaign by Tourism Selangor on interesting tourism destinations throughout Selangor. The program is open to everyone from all walk of life in the hope that the participants would share their experiences through social media platforms. To date, there are more than 20 tsdayout in Selangor and one tsdayout special edition krabi.

Tsdayout Special Edition : Selangor Meets Sarawak

This year’s special edition is the second outing outside Selangor, after Tsdayout Special Edition Krabi. Tsdayout Special Edition brings the best combination of travel activities in Selangor and Sarawak. Through out Tsdayout : Selangor Meets Sarawak blog series, I will share the activities we did during the program, selected accommodations, interesting food we ate and its location and other relevant topics. Who knows they would make it to your next travel itinerary.

Royal Klang Town Heritage Walk

As soon as we registered and were briefed at Tourism Selangor HQ, we were transported by bus to Klang for Royal Klang Town Heritage Walk. At first, we thought we would be guided by a tour guide. On arrival, we found out that there would be a treasure hunt where a group consisted of 2-3 persons were given 25 questions to solve and photograph within 4 hours. The answers lie along the Royal Klang Town Heritage Walk. The first team to arrive with the most correct answers would be adjudged best team. Though I had visited Klang few times prior to the treasure hunt and did part of the heritage walk, it did not increase the chance of winning because the riddles were so specific. My team mate was Hairul from Karangkraf.

First of, two of my friends were surprised to know that there is indeed Royal Klang Town Heritage Walk. Heritage walk has long been associated with Georgetown, Penang and Melaka. Many especially those in Klang Valley are still unaware of the charm of Klang town. Do you know that the district of Klang existed even before Melaka and was part of the colonial Sri Vijaya and Majapahit governments? Klang gains its prosperity after the decline of Kuala Selangor following the death of Sultan Muhammad in 1857. In 1875, Klang was chosen as the royal capital city of Selangor but was replaced by Kuala Lumpur in 1880.

Sultan Abdul Aziz Royal Gallery

The flag off took place at a classic 1909 white-painted colonial building which now serves as the royal gallery named Sultan Abdul Aziz Royal Gallery.

Before, it was used to house the British government’s offices and the Japanese, army base during World War II. The royal gallery itself housed several answers to the questions.

Chong Kok Kopitiam

When I read Q14 – ‘Enjoy a great hot cuppa with toasts and soft-boiled eggs, reminisce of days gone by with good old chums’, my heart jumped and no doubt, this task topped as my no.1 favourite. We bumped into Chong Kok Kopitiam by chance as we saw a long queue reaching the main road. Also, one has to wait for table to be seated. Since we were running out of time, it took me awhile to convince Hairul to eat at Chong Kok Kopitiam.

At first, we had a table at the back end of the shop and then changed to the centre so as to grab the waitress’s attention for order. I am not sure of other kopitiam in Klang, but Chong Kok Kopitiam really fit the description. Set in one of the old shophouses near Klang Railway Station, one had to pass the blinds half winded and squeezed through the small space between square and round tables spread inside the kopitiam. As in other old kopitiam, the table arrangement is extended to the far end of the kopitiam.

Chong Kok Kopitiam is served by workers from different races, an evident of the multi racial Malaysia. A friend of mine vouched for its nasi lemak sambal sotong, which is the reason for the long queue mentioned earlier. I settled for a cup of coffee, toasts and soft boiled eggs.You have a choice of normal bread, wholemeal bread, bun, telur ayam biasa, telur ayam kampung. The food served is worth the seat waiting and long queue.

Klang Railway Station

Built in 1890, the Klang Railway Station was constructed to replace the original Bukit Kuda station as the demand for transportation of tin products and agriculture produce increased. It was then extended for six-mile from Klang to connect a new port, Port Swettenham.

Jalan Stesen Shophouses

Beginning from 16th century, Klang served as one of the most important port and mining areas in the peninsula. The shophouses were constructed between 1930 and 1940. Today, there are only 29 shophouses left along Jalan Stesen 1. The shophouses are characterised by French windows on the upper storey facade. Walk along the five-foot way to bring back the memories of the old days.

Gedung Raja Abdullah

Located at the same row as the Klang Fire Station, Gedung Raja Abdullah is a former residence and warehouse owned by Raja Abdullah Ibni Almarhum Raja Jaafar. In 1874, the British turned it as their official government office. In 1895, the warehouse became a museum that accommodates relics and antics. It was also used to store tin ores and other commercial commodities. The building is now a tin ores’ museum.

Kota Raja Fire & Rescue Station / Klang Fire Station

Klang Fire Station is one of the oldest building still standing tall today despite being built in the 1890s. Situated at the junction of Tengku Diauddin Road and Tengku Kelana Road overlooking the Klang Bridge, the Victorian-styled building architectural elements are still being maintained under the orders of the Sultan of Selangor.

Masjid India Muslim Klang

This Indian Muslim Mosque’s history dates back to 1904 when the site was awarded by the late Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah to the founder of the mosque, R.E Mohamad Kassim, a well known Indian Muslim business leader. He came to Klang in 1895 and established close ties with the Selangor royalty. The Indian Muslim Mosque has fine examples of southern Indian decorative details with fine plasterwork.

‘Little India’ (Jalan Tengku Kelana)

It is a place where you can get everything Indian and offers authentic experience at par with Kuala Lumpur’s Brickfields. Jalan Tengku Kelana is a home to a number of shops that mainly sell traditional attires, prayer items, tiny clay lamps and incense powders. In fact, Jalan Tengku Kelana is very colourful.

Other shops are restaurants selling banana leaf rice and mithai (indian sweets). The Little India’s confectionery stores put on display barfi, rasgulla, kaju katli, laddu and the like. Some are so sweet that your teeth would ache and the others are so hard I could not imagine biting into one without having a tooth or two broken.

One of the tasks is to find gajras,the flower garland made of varieties of jasmine flowers meant to be worn by ladies on the bun or with the braid coiling. A nice ‘athai’ willingly fixed a gajras on my ponytail. She did it for free!! What a hospitality.

Normally a catalogue would be spread for you to choose the design of henna.

You can even get your fortunes told by a fortune teller and his trusted green bird! We weren’t lucky on our Royal Klang Town Heritage Walk that day.

Kota Bridge @ Jambatan Kota

The steel truss girder bridge also known as the double decker bridge was constructed between 1958 and 1960. In the 1990s, due to the high capacity traffic with the upgrading of the Federal Highway Route 2 (Klang – Kuala Lumpur) into six lane carriageway toll highway from 1991 to 1993, the double-decked bridge was closed to traffic.

Istana Alam Shah

It was built in 1950 to replace the Istana Mahkota Puri built in 1889. All royal ceremonies in Selangor are held here.

Keris Monument Park

Dagger (keris) symbolizes the power and sovereignity of the Malay rulers. It was originally erected in Shah Alam but has since been relocated to Taman Bandar Diraja Klang.

How to Join a Guided Tour of Royal Klang Town Heritage Walk?

If you are interested to learn the history of Klang, there is a guided tour of Royal Klang Town Heritage Walk jointly initiated by Klang Municipal Council and Tourism Selangor. The walk gives an insight into the town’s development, the foundation of the Selangor’s monarchy and the British colonial administration from a period of the late 1800’s to mid 1900’s.

Royal Klang Town Heritage Walk is free for all every Saturday from 9.15am to 11.45am with registration at Royal Gallery Sultan Abdul Aziz from 9.00-9.15am.

For more info : info@tourismselangor.my | Tel : 03-5513 2000

The Royal Klang Town Heritage Walk was made possible by Tourism Selangor as part of #tsdayout Special Edition Selangor Meets Sarawak.